Category: Tech

  • Linux phones – Ubuntu Touch

    Linux phones – Ubuntu Touch

    A Fairphone 3 showing the homescreen and some apps on the left hand side.

    Linux phones – my experience with Ubuntu Touch

    Earlier this year (2024) I wrote an article about my belief in linux phones as a partial solution to the multiple distractions and negative influences being piped directly into childrens’ brains by their use of mobile phones, and particularly the use of social media, at a young age.

    If my own children are to use linux phones, I have to dogfood it for myself. Partly to show leadership, partly for reasons of trouble-shooting.

    For the last week or so I have been using Ubuntu Touch (by UBports) on a OnePlus Nord N10 5g, and then a Fairphone 3 (because I lost my OnePlus!) to understand whether I could use it as my daily phone, without having my GrapheneOS Android in close proximity. (Note – if you’re not yet ready to leave Android but you want to take the first step in mobile privacy, GrapheneOS is a brilliant first step if you have a Google Pixel phone).

    TLDR: I’m not yet ready to use Ubuntu Touch as my daily driver. Read on to find out why.

    A Fairphone 3 showing the homescreen and some apps on the left hand side.

    Caveats

    I have a limited amount of time to be able to properly dig into different alternatives to various apps. I have gone as far as trying flatpak versions of different software packages in order to get things to work. However it is likely that there are solutions to some (most?) of the problems I encountered. I am grateful for any suggestions for alternatives that might work!

    Why Ubuntu Touch?

    There are plenty of people who will tell you that Ubuntu Touch isn’t ‘real’ linux because it’s based on an Android ‘layer’ that enables it to use the hardware.

    That’s fine; I’m less interested in purity than usability. I love šŸ’—šŸ’— the work being done on PostmarketOS and other pure linux systems, and I can’t wait until they are able to work with the drivers on a wider array of phones. But until then one of my ‘show stopper’ use cases is taking photos of my family, and in that case Ubuntu Touch is probably the best choice.

    Ubuntu Touch can also run Android apps via Waydroid (this is also the case with most linux mobile systems), which helps make the transition to a linux device more manageable.

    Ubuntu Touch also tends to be available on more modern phones; if I’m going to be moving from Android, I want my phone to have realtively good specs.

    Installation

    Most linux-enabled phones are on the old side, and I want something newer both for myself and for my kids when they are old enough to need a phone of their own

    I looked at the websites to find the most ‘modern’ linux-compatible phone I could (as of June 2024) and it appeared to be the Nord 10 5g. I bought one for Ā£120 on ebay.

    Ubuntu Touch (Ubports) was the most likely solution, even though it’s not ‘pure’ linux (it’s a modified layer sitting on top of the Android driver set). This is because the disadvantage of sticking close to the android code base (more on that later) is mitigated by the good access to the camera. And having a good quality, working camera, is an absolute show-stopper for me

    Running the UBPorts installer is generally a piece of cake, but in this instance it failed; my first attempt resulted in a soft bricked phone. I hadn’t read the instructions, which specified that it should be downgraded.

    That set me back a few months as all my computers are linux. The downgrade tool provided by OnePlus only works on Windows.

    Lucky for me I had a Fairphone 3 as backup (Ā£60 on ebay) as I have since lost the Nord 10! But nonetheless I learned some useful lessons along the way, not least to read the documentation before trying to install.

    Installing Ubuntu Touch on the Fairphone is very straightforward. Connect the phone via USB, run the installer and you’re away. Super-simple.

    On OnePlus Nord 10, you have to downgrade the software using the MSM tool you then just connect the phone via USB and run the installer as for the Fairphone.

    Things that just worked

    Here’s a list of things that worked mostly just like you expect.

    • Camera
    • Phone calls
    • Text messages
    • Wifi and hotspot
    • Mobile internet
    • Bluetooth
    • Browser (Morph, a bit basic but fine)
    • Messaging or social media apps such as:
      • Telegram (via Teleports or Webber)
      • Element (Matrix)
      • WhatsApp Web (using a burner Android phone as the ‘host’)
      • Mastodon

    In other words, most of the basic functionality that you would expect from a simple smart device is functional.

    Things that worked via Waydroid

    Some functionality is not available natively to Ubuntu Touch and needs to be installed through Waydroid. This has a delayed startup compared with a native app; which is usually not a big problem. These apps include:

    • One of my banking apps (Nationwide) – note several other banks did not work via Waydroid
    • Privacy Friendly Sudoku (fun to challenge friends/family to the daily puzzle)

    Things that took a bit of working out

    MFA/2FA

    I struggled a bit with a suitable 2FA app. Initially I used the 2FA Manager app; however I wasn’t able to use either the camera or manual login. Happily Authenticator NG worked perfectly.

    WhatsApp

    I also wanted a work-around for WhatsApp. I refuse to install the app on any device, and anyway there’s no app for it on Linux phones. So the solution is to use a burner Android phone (use an old or super-cheap ebay one) as the main account, and then login via WhatsApp Web. The formatting via the app worked much better than the browser version in my case.

    Contacts

    I couldn’t figure out an easy way to sync my contacts with Nextcloud (I have struggled with WebDav), so I manually exported from my ‘main’ phone and imported them which worked fine.

    Things that haven’t worked out

    Sadly there are some things that either haven’t worked at all, or are only partially successful.

    GPS

    Navigation is one issue; Android phones are apparently bundled with drivers and software to make GPS connections very fast. This is not the case with Linux installations, which are slower to identify location. Whilst in principle the various mapping tools, such as Pure Maps or uNav, work perfectly, they are dependent on the GPS location in the first place.

    If you are patient this does not present a problem. If not it might be an issue. GPS fix is affected by density of nearby buildings etc, so is likely to be a bigger problem in towns and cities than the countryside.

    Banking apps

    I have a business bank account that just didn’t work; this is a problem, as the app is generally needed to confirm purchasese, payments etc. I guess this is something that could be done on the burner phone, but it is less convenient. There is likely no way around the issue as the banks have security that is tied to the Android operating system.

    Password manager

    I didn’t expect a password manager to be a problem, but I couldn’t get a work-around for Bitwarden; the web vault refused to open, and there appear to be no viable locally installed password managers.

    Podcasts

    I’m a big listener to podcasts, and there is a perfectly usable podcast player, PodPhoenix. However I like to listen at 1.6x speed, and there is no capacity to modulate the listening speed. This would mean I would have to miss out on a substantial number of podcasts.

    E-reader

    When I run out of podcasts, I like to listen to books being ‘read’ (text to speech). This is possible on GrapheneOS via Librera FD but I haven’t found anything similar yet for UT.

    Design choices

    While I’m on the subject of Ubuntu Touch, I think it’s worth mentioning that the notifications/top pull-down bar is not as intuitive or helpful as the standard Android or PostmarketOS one. Sometimes you have to search around a bit to find (for example) the wifi hotspot or torch functions. Although not a showstopper, there’s probably a reason why other systems have gone with the ‘most used’ apps in an easily reachable drag-down area.

    Other than that, the swiping system and pinning of apps works effectively.

    Conclusion

    As it stands, I am having to bring along my existing GrapheneOS device as well as the Ubuntu Touch for my daily driver, predominantly to listen to podcasts at variable speed. Also quality of life stuff like the banking apps (though less of a showstopper).

    Having two phones with me is probably the reason I lost my first Ubuntu Touch so I’m going to revert to GrapheneOS for now, and maintain a strong interest in the further development of Ubuntu Touch, PostmarketOS and other mobile linux systems.

    However, the reasons for me reverting the GrapheneOS phone are not showstoppers for my own children, and I am confident that when it’s time for me to consider what phone they should have, I will feel reasonably happy with mobile linux as an ethical and practical choice.

    Edits

    Added the lack of an E-reader that can provide TTS functionality

    One response to “Linux phones – Ubuntu Touch”

    1. Linux mobile; safer phones for children? – David Clubb

      […] Linux phones – Ubuntu Touch – David Clubb October 16, 2024 […]

  • Technology and Cymraeg

    Technology and Cymraeg

    Technology and Cymraeg

    In June 2024 Welsh Government launched a ‘call for information‘ on what is needed to make technology more friendly to Cymraeg.

    I produced a response to highlight the power of open source in enabling low-cost, high quality and ‘translation-friendly’ services. I post the response in full below.

    Hashtags:

    Recommendations

    • The value of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to health and well-being in Wales is so profound that it should be supported through a fund or equivalent of approximately 0.001% of the NHS budget
    • Public bodies in Wales should be required to use a FOSS equivalent (where one exists) of any existing proprietary social media platform, and to contribute to Welsh translations of the platforms

    Philosophy

    Technology is never agnostic. The deployment of technological tools depends strongly on the philosophy of those who created it. My response to this call for information is therefore predicated on the standpoint that open source solutions are generally preferable to commercial and proprietary alternatives. 

    Open source (also known as FOSS – Free and Open Source Software) has four freedoms:

    • Freedom 0: The freedom to run the software as you wish, for any purpose.
    • Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the software works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish
    • Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others
    • Freedom 3: The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes.  

    The beauty of FOSS to Wales is:

    • Using FOSS eliminates the leakage of money from Wales for licencing costs for using proprietary software
    • FOSS usually makes it very easy to translate, greatly reducing barriers to adoption for people who would like to use the Welsh language. 
    • Using FOSS can help upskill people within Wales (see freedoms 1 and 2).
    • Using and supporting FOSS directly helps achieve Walesā€™ future generations goal of ā€˜Globally Responsibleā€™, because any improvements that are supported or produced from participants, volunteers or donors in Wales, are freely available for use or adoption by anybody globally, reducing the barriers to participation by the poorest in society (in Wales this supports the socio-economic duty)

    In the European context, Wales is a poor country within a poor unitary state, particularly if London is excluded. Issues of ownership and licensing are very important in this context. The use of proprietary software effectively means that the people of Wales are paying people elsewhere so that we can de-skill ourselves.

    In February 2022 I produced a White Paper entitled: ā€œWhy Wales should embrace free and open source softwareā€. In it I made the case for open source against several Welsh Government objectives in the Digital Strategy for Wales. FOSS directly supports the following components:

    • Digital inclusion – creating digital public goods
    • Digital skills – widening participation in learning, and participation in communities of technology and interest
    • Digital economy – for some sectors, savings of more than 80% have been achieved through the use of FOSS

    For further details see the White Paper.

    The benefits of Cymraeg

    The use of the Welsh language produces numerous benefits for the individual, and still more for the community at large. Some of the individual benefits include:

    • Improved health outcomes
    • Improved career prospects
    • Increased performance in learning additional languages
    A mind map showing the links between the Welsh language and a range of positive well-being indicators

    Some of the benefits of using Cymraeg, all of which are evidence by peer-reviewed literature

    The health, educational and economic benefits are so profound that I believe the case should be made to divert a tiny proportion (say 0.001%) of the budget for the NHS to establish or fund an independent organisation aimed at improving understanding and adoption of FOSS in Wales.

    Cymraeg and communication technologies

    Welsh public institutions have been ā€˜capturedā€™ by the early proprietary communication platforms to the extent that most use X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or other platforms without a thought as to the rationale, or the case for using alternatives that better support the Welsh language.

    The use of proprietary platforms indirectly enriches far-right voices, and certainly leads to a leakage of money and skill to (usually) America-based organisations through advertising and data harvesting.

    The proprietary platforms are not generally responsive to requests for making their interfaces multi-lingual, in direct contrast to their FOSS equivalents. 

    In order to properly implement the requirements of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, as well as the Welsh Language Act, public bodies in Wales should therefore be required to use FOSS social media platforms (where they exist) in addition to, or as a replacement for, their existing use of proprietary social media platforms. 

    This would give the opportunity for them to also contribute to the Welsh language translations of these platforms, making them more suitable for Welsh-language users.

    Other blog posts relevant to this article:

  • Tech for Good Cymru – first meeting

    Tech for Good Cymru – first meeting

    Tech for Good Cymru – first meeting

    The inaugural meeting of Tech for Good Cymru took place on the evening of 20 June 2024. Here’s a quick summary of events.

    Background

    The Tech for Good network is an established ‘network of networks’ that has branches in different countries and regions of the UK. A steering group called the ‘Tech for Good Organisers’ network‘ helps coordinate activity.

    The map of branches shows groups in Wales, Oxford, ‘North east’ England, Exeter and a bunch of places around London.

    The establishment of the Tech for Good Cymru meeting was initiated after meetings in June and September 2023 between an informal group of supporters.

    The venue

    PromoCymru generously provided both the venue and some food and refreshments for a crowd which probably numbered between 30 and 40. PromoCymru have form in social good and digital and were excellent hosts.

    A group of people standing behind a table of food listening to a speaker who is out of shot

    The activity

    Following a short introduction to the Tech for Good concept, Arielle took us through the exercise she suggested to help collate ideas about different aspects of the nascent group.

    For example, how can we make the group as welcoming as possible to people from a range of backgrounds and skill levels; and how should the network function in Wales? There were four groups in total.

    A room containing two large tables, with groups of people sat around each discussing things. Paper, pencils and cans on the tables.

    I was in the group discussing the ways that the network could function, and I was really impressed by the positivity and creativity of the people around the table.

    The exercise took about half an hour, after which each of the groups took turns summarising their discussions. The summaries were excellent, showcasing the wide range of backgrounds and opinions on offer.

    A group of people is standing and listening intently to somebody speaking. Other people sit on steps, tables and sofas.

    The general atmosphere in the room was very positive; lots of people stayed to chat after the event, and I even got a few people to play with the two linux phones I’d brought with me (see here for more on that topic).

    Actions

    There are a few actions to follow from this. One is to have a note of the discussions and ideas – this is already underway thanks to Joseph!

    The second is to have a group set up to allow members to communicate between meetings. This is also underway and we should have something on Matrix shortly. In case Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is of interest to you, you are very welcome to join the existing FOSS Wales Matrix group (link here).

    There is also work to be done on the next meeting, but that’s a story for another day.

    Acknowledgements

    Huge thanks to the team at PromoCymru who worked hard to organise the event, and who generously provided the venue and refreshments.

    Thanks also to all the attendees who brought with them a really positive and uplifting sentiment.

    I’m looking forward to the next one!

  • Linux mobile; safer phones for children?

    Linux mobile; safer phones for children?

    Linux mobile; safer phones for children?

    I have two children in primary school. They live in a world where mobile phones, and specifically smartphones, are ubiquitous. And …. that’s not necessarily a bad thing. When used ‘smartly’, mobile phones are valuable sources of information, entertainment, organisation and communication. However there are downsides, as I describe later.

    Like many parents, I have considered the inevitability of my children having phones of their own. Like most parents, I have grave reservations about them having unfettered access to the whole panoply of social media and internet. How to strike the right balance between maximising the ‘good’ that can come from use of mobile phones; to limiting the ‘bad’?

    Read on. This is my journey as well as yours.

    Caveats

    • This blog post is predicated on the negative impacts of ‘excessive’ use of social media in children and young people. In this article I’ll use ‘young people’ as a catch-all for anybody below the age of 16. I’ll use ‘guardians’ to talk about anybody who has legal responsibility for young people, which includes parents, guardians and carers.
    • Although this blog post is focused on how to mitigate the harm to young people from unfettered access to social media via mobile devices, there is potential harm to people of all ages from social media. It is precisely because I have become aware of the harm from mainstream platforms such as Instagram and Twitter that I limit my social media to open source equivalents such as Mastodon and Pixelfed (with the exception of LinkedIn for which no viable open source alternative currently exists)
    • The Linux phone ecosystem is developing at a blistering pace, even though it is predominantly volunteer-driven. This is largely due to being able to use the existing linux codebase, adapted for small touchscreen devices. This means that the current state of the art is likely to be significantly improved on a monthly basis from the date of publication of this post

    The impacts of social media on young people

    The science that underpins our understanding of the impacts of social media on young people is rapidly evolving, and contested. However there appear to be five main negative impacts of social media on young people:

    1. A depletion of time spent with people in the ‘real’ world (social deprivation)
    2. Disturbance to sleep
    3. Attention overload
    4. Addiction to the dopamine ‘hit’ of notifications etc
    5. Mental health impacts arising from viewing unrealistic body or lifestyle ‘visions’

    There are numerous examples of research and policy on this topic. I list several below:

    There is a general agreement that children should not access social media, possibly with an implicit recognition about the risks associated with social media. However there is considerable disparity about when is a ‘safe’ age to participate:

    Of course, it’s one thing to suggest an age limit for using social media. It’s quite another to be able to ‘police’ it effectively.

    Note that the evidence of harm on young people from using social media is not one-way. There are many studies that suggest there are positive outcomes. Positive outcomes can include obtaining positive feedback from peers or others online when posting information.

    However my understanding is that the wicked patterns employed by mobile phone platforms and social media apps, to artificially boost the dopamine reward from using social media, are significant drivers of harm.

    A simple mind map demonstrating the impact of mobile phones (implicitly the social media on them), to health and the environment.
    Simple mind map attempting to summarise the relationship between phone use and

    Why can’t/won’t existing phones act?

    The two dominant phone ecosystems are Android (Google’s mobile phone platform) and iPhone (Apple’s mobile platform). Both these platforms are inherently unsuited for tackling issues relating to children’s health and social media, because:

    • They derive significant revenue from their own services (e.g. YouTube, various Apple products)
    • They harvest data from users that can be sold to third parties, or used to directly target advertising (known as ‘advert personalisation’)
    • Phones offer the opportunity to present Google as the default search engine, cementing Google’s dominance in the search/advertising space. Apple is also a beneficiary of this, receiving large annual payments to have Google as the default search engine on the iPhone platform.

    If Apple and Google restrict the ability of children to access social media accounts, they reduce their own income, and they reduce the number of years which people interact with advertising via social media platforms.

    Companies have a legal obligation to maximise their return to shareholders. Their legal obligations to children are far less clear. It seems likely that social media companies will therefore drag their heels on making their platforms safer, if there is a resultant reduction in their income.

    A flowchart showing the data collected by various social media providers
    A flowchart showing the data collected by various social media providers.

    Our choices

    Society at large, and guardians in particular, have a few choices they can make in response to understanding the potential harm from young people accessing social media.

    1. Do nothing and hope that young people will be ok (business as usual)
    2. Petition social media companies to be better at protecting the mental health of our young people
    3. Improve regulation
    4. Make different choices for young people, such as:
      • Allowing them a ‘dumb’ phone rather than a smartphone
      • Provide them with a smartphone that does not facilitate engagement with the most damaging social media platforms

    Choice 1 is likely to be the default choice for most people. Even if guardians are aware of some of the risks for young people, it is hard to resist constant pressure, including peer pressure. I have great sympathy with anybody who goes down this road. No judgement here.

    I judge Choice 2 as unlikely to be very effective. If any changes are made, they are likely to be the smallest necessary to satisfy public demand. This is because the mobile phone platforms answer predominantly to shareholders, and not to the public.

    Choice 3 is possible, but I fear regulatory capture in the UK, and the ability of social media companies to lobby to reduce the impacts of regulation, and then to innovate their way around regulation.

    Choice 4 places an unfair burden on guardians when the problem is systemic, society-wide and has ramifications way beyond individual families. Nonetheless, if we don’t have faith in social media companies to sacrifice profitability for the good of society; and if we don’t have faith in regulators or regulation to make a reasonable intervention that cannot be quickly circumvented; then we are left with Choice 4

    Some people choose to not allow their children to have ‘smart phones’. This is a viable option, although potentially a difficult one for many guardians to adopt. The peer pressure on young people to have a smart phone and to participate in social media and messaging is intense. There is an undoubted consequence of ‘missing out’ (FOMO) that would be felt by the young person, although I am keen to stress to my own children the JOMO (Joy of missing out). Although this is potentially more than compensated for by improved well-being, the stress and conflict within the family unit could be challenging.

    Whilst I think that the option of providing a ‘dumb’ phone to young people is a good one, I also have a philosophical reservation about it. If smart phones are so useful and valuable to adults, should we be denying their many positive uses to young people – as long as there is a plausible way to mitigate the harm?

    This is the alternative I will be exploring through the rest of this blog post. It is to use a smart phone that does not facilitate access to the most damaging social media platforms which could be one way to support the call by Esther Ghey who has called for teenagers to be ‘protected from smartphones‘, proposing a ban on social media for under-16s.

    This alternative already exists in the form of linux phones.

    Linux phones

    What is Linux?

    Linux is a family of software that enables computers, phones and digital hardware to operate. It’s the software that underpins most of the digital infrastructure globally, and can be used as a highly viable (or superior!) alternative to Windows or Mac on laptops or desktop machines. I have been using linux on my laptops since 2005. Whilst it runs brilliantly on new hardware, it is also a good solution for older machines, as the hardware requirements are lower than needed by Windows or MacOS.

    History of linux phones

    The smartphone era began with the iPhone, and Apple continued to dominate the early years of smartphone technology.

    Seeing the opportunity to grow their advertising and data harvesting operation, Google started to develop the Android operating system to compete with Apple’s iPhone.

    I was a very early adopter of Android in 2010 (HTC Hero), and continued to champion Google as a more ethical (and low-cost) alternative to Apple. How naive!!

    As the Android ecosystem expanded, the focus for Google appeared to be less about improving the functionality, and more about how much data could be captured from users.

    People who are interested in Linux and alternatives to ‘mainstream’ phones started developing alternatives. Although this was the case from as early as the mid-2000’s, the development started in earnest in the late 2010’s driven by companies such as Pine64 and Purism.

    Linux phones generally try to use the existing ‘mainstream’ Linux software and optimise it for use on mobile devices, thereby making use of an existing huge and powerful set of tools.

    How do Linux phones limit exposure to social media platforms?

    Although most social media platforms are available via web browsers, this form of access is inherently less addictive or distracting than the app versions.

    In other words, if you are able to use only the browser version of any social media platform, your health and well-being outcomes are likely to be better than using the app versions.

    ‘Wired’ has a good article on web vs app which is worth a look; it basically boils down to:

    • Much more limited access to your data (if any)
    • No notifications
    • Slight increase in friction to use the app, decreasing the temptation to doomscroll
    • Fewer terrible features
    • Fewer (or no) adverts

    Given that there are no native apps for social media platforms for Linux phones, it follows that Linux phones are inherently safer for young people, and therefore a better choice.

    Where are we now with Linux phones?

    Sadly we’re not yet in a place where you can rush off to a phone shop and demand a Linux phone. Linux can be installed on a number of devices, typically older ones which have chips that can more easily be understood so that the software works on them.

    The OnePlus 6 or 6T seem to be reasonably well supported, and I can personally attest for the Pinetab 2 tablet if you’re after a Linux tablet.

    However there are a number of more modern devices such as Fairphone 4 and 5 that work very well with Linux, and more such as the Pixel 6 being actively developed.

    There are several places you can go to find out which type of Linux works on which type of phone, including:

    If you want to do some research about Linux on phones generally, I suggest the following:

    • Tuxphones – general news site for anything related to mobile linux
    • Linux on Mobile– Fab resource for all sorts of platforms

    I bought a Fairphone 3 on ebay for under Ā£70 (lucky!) and proceeded to install Ubuntu Touch. The installation process is relatively straightforward (there’s an automated installer), and the outcome is an entirely useable phone that doesn’t track you, and can’t install the apps that are likely the most damaging for young people whilst still being extremely functional and high performing.

    I am also investigating a Pixel 6 phone with Droidian installed.

    My aim overall is to identify a phone that has high functionality, low cost and that I would personally be happy to use as a daily driver, before selecting it as something I would provide for my own children.

    I can see that the Fairphone 3 running Ubuntu Touch would definitely meet my criteria. I will have to report back on the Pixel 6 which is currently in ‘alpha’ and not useable for normal phone activity.

    Acknowledgements

    I would like to thank everybody who has ever contributed to an open source project, whether through code, advocacy, policy, translation, donation or any other method.

    I encourage everybody to participate in the open source community. There is a home for you, whatever your level of experience, skill set or circumstance.

    Edits

    12 responses to “Linux mobile; safer phones for children?”

    1. Dyfrig Williams avatar
      Dyfrig Williams

      @david Mae hwnna'n gwneud i fi eisiau prynu ffƓn Linux fel oedolyn!

      1. David Clubb šŸ“󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳ó æšŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ŗšŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ avatar
        David Clubb šŸ“󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳ó æšŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ŗšŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ

        @dyfrig @david wir, mae'n mor cyffrous i defnyddio!

        1. Dyfrig Williams avatar
          Dyfrig Williams

          @davidoclubb @david Mae'n gwneud i mi feddwl am bethau. Siŵr o fod colli'r apps negeseuon byddai'r prif golled, ond byddai'r wĆŖ yn iawn i bopeth arall

          1. David Clubb šŸ“󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳ó æšŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ŗšŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ avatar
            David Clubb šŸ“󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳ó æšŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ŗšŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ

            @dyfrig @david Fod yn onest ti ddim angen colli bron dim byd; jyst defnyddio fersiynau gwe. Fel enghraifft, efo Ubuntu Touch mae 'web app' Telegram yn gweithio hollol fel yr app go-iawn

            1. Dyfrig Williams avatar
              Dyfrig Williams

              @davidoclubb @david Hmmm, fi wedi bod yn meddwl symud i Telegram. WhatsApp yw'r unig app Facebook neu Gogledd dwi dal yn ddefnyddio achos yr effaith rhwydwaith. Mae'n amser am ymgyrch arall o berswadio!

            2. David Clubb šŸ“󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳ó æšŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ŗšŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ avatar
              David Clubb šŸ“󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳ó æšŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ŗšŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ

              @dyfrig @david Telegram yn well na WhatsApp. Nid fod dwi'n arbenigwr ond dwi'n cymryd fod mae Signal a Matrix yn hyd yn oed well. Dwi ar y tri šŸ˜‚https://clubb.cymru/linkstack/@davidoclubb

            3. Dyfrig Williams avatar
              Dyfrig Williams

              @davidoclubb @david Mae popeth yn well na WhatsApp! Yr unig rheswm dwi arno fe yw bod pawb yn cyfathrebu arno, ond byddai lot well gen i ddewis amgen!

            4. David Clubb šŸ“󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳ó æšŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ŗšŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ avatar
              David Clubb šŸ“󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳ó æšŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ŗšŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ

              @dyfrig @david Fod rhan o'r gwrthwynebiad

            5. Dyfrig Williams avatar
              Dyfrig Williams

              @davidoclubb @david Gwych!

            6. davidoclubb avatar
              davidoclubb

              Diolch i ti Dyfrig šŸ™‚

    2. Tech for Good Cymru – first meeting – David Clubb

      […] The general atmosphere in the room was very positive; lots of people stayed to chat after the event, and I even got a few people to play with the two linux phones I’d brought with me (see here for more on that topic). […]

    3. Linux phones – Ubuntu Touch – David Clubb

      […] Earlier this year (2024) I wrote an article about my belief in linux phones as a partial solution to the multiple distractions and negative influences being piped directly into childrens’ brains by their use of mobile phones, and particularly the use of social media, at a young age. […]

    Other blog posts relevant to this article:

  • Changing diet

    Changing diet

    Changing Wales’ diet

    There was an interesting thread on LinkedIn last week, discussing things like Wales’ relience on imported fruit and vegetables. Predominantly Brexit-related issues, but it did spark a few comments about what Wales could and should be producing. And it led me to consider whether public procurement in Wales should only incorporate vegetarian or vegan products šŸ¤”

    So, after posting on LinkedIn that I was thinking about starting a petition, I did it.

    Petitions in Wales

    The petition functionality on the Senedd website is really user-friendly. I think that this system can help our elected representatives judge the mood and salience of particular topics, and it also helps citizens feel as though topics of interest are being properly considered, and could even be debated in the Senedd.

    The process was straightforward; write some text about the petition, along with any supplementary information. Then find two people who are prepared to support your position.

    After that there’s some internal checks and a translation to Welsh, and the petition is live!

    The role of public procurement in Welsh diets

    We know that around Ā£85 million worth of food is procured by the public sector in Wales every year. This presents a brilliant opportunity for Welsh food producers. It also provides public bodies with an opportunity to influence the eating experience and the health of some of the most vulnerable in society (including people in hospital and people in schools); and to influence the strategic direction of food and agricultural policy in Wales.

    My petition asks the Senedd to consider making all public procurement of food in Wales vegetarian or vegan, and there’s a few reasons for that.

    The climate impact of meat

    The fact that meat products produce much greater amounts of greenhouse gas emissions is well known.

    Similar graphs exist for emissions by amount of protein and by weight of food.

    A 2023 WCPP report highlighted that farming in Wales consists of mostly sheep and cattle grazing, with just 6% of farms devoted to crops and horticulture. This is despite the classification of 20% of land in Wales as grades 1-3a in the Agricultural Land Classification, defined as ‘best and most versatile’, that can sustain food and non-food crops.

    Only 5% of the beef and lamb produced in Wales is eaten here; most is eaten in the rest of the UK, with significant amounts exported.

    Astonishingly, given the increasing awareness of the climate crisis, emissions from agriculture in Wales have increased since 2016.

    Indeed, if today’s level of global food emissions continue, there will be at least a 0.7Ā°C additional heating by the end of the century. Wales must play its part in a radical reduction in food-related emissions.

    If the public sector in Wales procured only vegetarian or vegan food, it would signify a strong policy shift, and help support fruit, vegetable and dairy producers in Wales.

    Health impacts of eating meat

    High levels of red or processed meat in diets are associated with elevated risks of bowel cancer. Some meats with high levels of saturated fat can increase risks of coronary heart disease.

    Vegetarian and vegan diets deliver health outcomes that reduce risk for type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension and heart disease.

    Some hospitals in England have recently been discovered to have been serving meat with chemicals associated with the development of cancer.

    Eliminating meat products from the procurement chain of the public sector would improve the health choices of thousands of people in Wales, improving the long-term outcomes for individuals, and also for demand on the NHS.

    Use your democratic mandate!

    If, like me, you believe that every policy lever on health, well-being and climate change, needs to be pulled simultaneously, it’s hard to get away from the fact that Wales’ agriculture system will need to be re-tooled, away from predominantly meat production, and towards more fruit and vegetables.

    The Senedd petitions platform gives the people of Wales the opportunity to pressure politicians directly about the sorts of changes we believe need to take place.

    I’d appreciate you lending your support to this petition šŸ™šŸ™‡

    Update 5 September

    One of my friends kindly brought to my attention that a similar call has been made by hundreds of academics, to the food served by UK universities. The link to the Guardian article is here.

  • A radical digital syllabus for primary education in Wales

    A radical digital syllabus for primary education in Wales

    A radical digital syllabus for primary education in Wales

    I recently undertook some training on futures thinking. I was struck by the following statement about how to consider ‘futures’:

    Start with where you want to be, not where youā€™re coming from.

    The basis of this post is the sort of skills and confidence that I would like my children to possess within the digital space. And the digital head-start I want to see for my own children, I’d also like for every child in Wales ā™„ļøšŸ“󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳ó æ.

    I want kids to feel comfortable in an increasingly digital world; to understand the concepts that underpin the systems we use every day; and to question established ways of doing things.

    I know next to nothing about formal education, but I’m passionate about digital, and particularly about equity in digital. I believe that open source software can be an astonishingly powerful ‘leveler’ for those who lack access to financial or hardware resources. (Hint – that’s many tens of thousands of children in Wales, and it’s billions across the world).

    Why open source? Well – it’s free from licensing or restrictions, so there are no financial implications from using it. The code is also open, which means that learners and teachers can play with the code. In the Welsh context, I think this means better learning outcomes, as well as the potential to translate any open source tools or platforms into Welsh. Neat!

    Within the European context, Wales is a poor country within a unitary state that seems to be getting poorer by the year. We don’t have the luxury of being able to throw limitless cash at our education system. While I’m certainly not advocating short-changing the sector, I do feel that embracing open source software and learning does give us the opportunity to radically change our approach for low cost and positive outcomes.

    Once we accept that premise, the next logical step – specifically when considering our approach to education and digital/tech – is to embrace open source software at all stages of education. And why not start with primary school?

    My influence in this sector is pretty minimal. Yes, I sit on the Welsh Government ‘Equity in STEM Board‘, but I’m not an educationalist. In reality my influence is limited mostly to how I can support my own children in their understanding of digital tools and techniques.

    And that’s what brings me to the focus of this post; how can I best support the learning of my own children; and what could that lead me to suggest for others?

    The current approach

    Before I describe my own manifesto, I want to be clear that this isn’t a criticism in any way about how tech is currently being taught in primary schools.

    Educators can’t possibly be specialists in every topic, and it’s only by luck of my own career path, intense curiosity, and suggestions from others, that I’ve learnt as much as I have.

    However I believe that everything I describe here is implementable within any small educational establishment anywhere in Wales. I’d like to describe the possible, in the hope that somebody is interested in discussing what it would take to pilot the ideas, or to take them and run with them in a different form.

    Step 0: Reusing old hardware by installing Linux

    Before going any further, I should let you know what hardware my kids are using. They’re both on laptops that are reasonably old – nearly ten years in one case, and nearly fifteen years in the other.

    A windows installation on either would render them more or less unusable. However a 10-minute process is all that’s needed to pop a linux distro onto them.

    An additional bonus of using Linux is that they are already ready to question why they should use windows or other systems.

    The Ubuntu desktop environment, one of a myriad of options suitable for people wanting to try linux

    Here’s a blog post that describes why linux is so good for schools (it’s highlighting Ubuntu, but the principles apply to all linux flavours).

    Step 1: Dvorak touchtyping

    The first thing I’m expecting of my own kids is to be able to touchtype. Nothing radical about that perhaps, but I’m directing them towards the Dvorak keyboard.

    For those not ‘in the know’, the QWERTY keyboard was set up to prevent typewriter keys sticking together. It definitely doesn’t help with fluid typing, and might increase the likelihood of keyboard-related health issues like RSI.

    It’s entirely possible that tech advances will render the keyboard obsolete in the next decade or two; but still, in the interim, I am keen to maintain healthy and pain-free hands, wrists and arms for my children. If there’s no downside to Dvorak touchtyping, and a possible upside with reduced health problems in future, why not?

    An additional bonus of this approach is to imbue in young minds the understanding that it can be a benefit to do things in a way that’s different to the dominant way of doing things.

    Step 2: Logseq

    I’ve had it with linear documents. We generate documents that have to be read top to bottom; we make notes on them that go into other linear documents that we then forget about….it’s not how our brains work.

    That’s why I love tools like Logseq. It enables notes and journals to be taken that are then linked to existing knowledge, allowing the creation of incredible knowledge graphs.

    How hard is it to use? Well, one of my children started using it when they were seven, so if you’re able to read this blog post, it’s not beyond you either!

    My personal Logseq knowledge graph. Each blob represents a person, organisation or concept, and the lines are the links between them.

    I’ve found Logseq an invaluable tool to support managing meetings, research, information….my top tip for productivity in fact! I wish it had been available for me when I was in primary school.

    I think the use of this tool can help with learning to learn; with making connections between concepts, people and personal experiences.

    Step 3: WordPress website

    Noting that my kids are still at step 1 or 2, and that all the rest of these ideas have yet to be tested, my third step would be to spin up a WordPress website.

    (I would get them to install on a subdomain via cpanel on my existing shared server, but for most people I understand this would be a stretch. That’s why I would recommend using Pikapods (or another one-click installer) to do the heavy lifting for you.)

    For just over Ā£1/month, you can have your own WordPress blog and website to play around with. A great way to experiment with themes and blogging – and more important still, to have the conversation about what’s appropriate to publish.

    An image on the WordPress homepage showing different types of website

    Step 4: Minecraft server? Video production? Animation?

    Once my children have got the basics of Linux, touchtyping and web publishing, I would be guided by their own interests. I hear that Minecraft is a popular platform and is used in existing education settings. Why not download and install on a raspberry pi on an online server?

    Or use open source tools to edit videos; produce animations – the possibilities are endless.

    An image generated by the open source Blender package

    By this stage, I would hope that they are starting to take their education in their own directions. I think some of the most powerful educational motivators are curiosity and success, along with support and guidance. By taking these steps, they will already have glimpsed some of the possibilities of the digital world, empowering them with the confidence to ask their own questions and set their own challenges

    Where does Wales want to be?

    I started this blog post with a provocation; where do we want to be? What we want for the children of Wales will be what decides their future – and the future of Wales itself.

    I’d like to see our education system truly reflect the ideals of the Future Generations Act. Let’s embrace open source as part of our education, and give young people the best possible start šŸ§’šŸ‘§šŸ‘¦šŸ§ āœŠšŸ“󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳ó æ

  • At last – a social media conference for Wales šŸ„³šŸ™„

    At last – a social media conference for Wales šŸ„³šŸ™„

    At last – a social media conference for Wales šŸ„³šŸ™„

    I was intrigued and delighted to see that a company is holding a social media conference for Wales. I’m a big fan of skilling-up in Wales, and a big fan of digital media. So, naturally, I offered my services for extolling the benefits of open source social media.

    I got a thumbs-up on my comment from one of the organisers; though I haven’t yet been approached for my pitch. That’s fine – it’s not my event. But, looking at the existing programme, I can’t help feel as though the organisers have a bit of a blind spot – philosophically – about the downside of traditional social media.

    There’s plenty in there for people who think business as usual – surveillance capitalism etc – is the right path to be following. I mean….if your business model is based on propping up the tech giants, I can understand that.

    But I see very little there to speak to people who might value a different approach. To take one example – the session on how to maximise the benefits of ‘paid social (advertising) – appears to take as read that it’s a good thing.

    One might equally challenge why public bodies in Wales are spending our money to compete with other users in a web of algorithms set up by private sector companies based overseas and likely not paying much in the way of tax in the UK. Particularly when open-source, ethical, ‘hate-free’ alternatives already exist; I’m thinking mostly of Mastodon and Pixelfed but there’s a myriad of others.

    Landing page for the Pixelfed website
    The landing page for the Pixelfed website.

    Without wanting to repeat stuff I’ve posted earlier, the open source social media platforms are largely interconnected. That means that if you post something on Mastodon, you can also see it on Pixelfed. This functionality greatly increases the reach and longevity of your communications.

    They also – mostly – ban hate speech, which means that your experience on these platforms will probably be more pleasant than on Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok.

    The lack of paid mechanisms to increase your profile (or your organisation’s profile) can appear to be a headache for social media managers. But the Fediverse rewards organisations that take a long-term approach to building relationships, and as there’s no paid advertising, there’s no short-cuts. Which rewards all the more the people who are engaging in genuine, meaningful and valuable ways.

    I would love to see Wales become a leader in open source social media. I feel as though I’m making some slight inroads, partly helped by the Twitter bin-fire, but we are a long way off a true plurality.

    Here’s my offer to the event organisers; you book me for a slot, and I’ll deliver a presentation for you. The title? “Why you shouldn’t come to this conference”.

    Best wishes to the organisers, and I confidently look forward to hearing from you about my offer.

  • Learning to learn

    Learning to learn

    I’m late to the VUCA party – the acronym was coined in 1987 to reflect Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity1. I’ve since come across it a few times in relation to the nature of society, with particular regard to the rate of change in the digital world and the natural environment.

    It’s hard to disagree; the Climate Emergency will cause much larger fluctuations in our ecosystem than we have been used to, requiring us to throw out much of our experience of dealing with relatively benign and predictable climatic conditions, and forcing our communities and organisations to be able to deal rapidly with complex (rather than complicated!) systems2.

    This will require new forms of leadership, governance and system management. It will also require us to produce young people (or old!) who have new ways of learning that build on new digital tools for information management; and new ways of acting that build on soft skills of empathy, understanding and story-telling.

    I’ve been thinking about this recently with a specific example. I’m a keen user of Logseq, a non-linear note-taking app that is quietly creating ripples in communities of learners and practitioners online. Having experienced the power and elegance of the platform I’ve added it to the list of open source projects to which I contribute financially.

    My Logseq information space after 10 months

    Some people describe it as a ‘second brain’. One is enough for me, but there have been instances where it’s helped me recall people, organisations or concepts in a way that my real brain would have struggled.

    Logseq – or other non-linear note-taking apps – can be used systematically to build insights and understanding. And it could be part of a digital curriculum in Wales. Why not start in primary school?

    Some readers might think this is far-fetched, but my experience from letting my own daughter loose on the platform shows that the concept is quickly understood, and in that one case study has led to near-delight in seeing how the information space evolves and grows.

    A primary school student’s first attempt playing with Logseq

    I know next to nothing about formal education. But with the things I’m doing at home (including encouraging learning the Dvorak touchtyping method3), I’m hoping to help shape people who think beyond ‘normal’; see that systems are often in place due to inertia, and that there are a myriad of ways of approaching problems or situations, some better and some doubtless worse than ‘business as usual’.

    How to take these conversations to ‘real’ educators, to see whether there’s any benefit to wider society. Is there a benefit? How can educators participate in this new digital world of learning?

    I have very few answers. I will try with my own children, and I am enthusiastic to work with others to consider how these concepts can become part of a more mainstream discourse in education. Could Wales leap-frog other countries in the rate of adoption of these new tools?

    Greater VUCA demands more powerful ways to handle data and work with others. We must move more quickly to equip the people of Wales with the tools to match the challenge.

    References

    1: Volatility, uncertainty , complexity and ambiguity, Wikipedia
    2: The difference between complex and complicated systems is covered by Dave Snowden and summarised here
    3: My brother introduced me to this keyboard layout in 2007 and I haven’t looked back since. Wiki article here.

  • Welsh Government’s approach to ‘digital’

    Welsh Government’s approach to ‘digital’

    Welsh Governmentā€™s approach to digital is being described through a series of blog posts.

    I’m really encouraged by this approach to a new for Wales – and for public services in particular.

     I like the way that a blog is being used to describe each of the ‘missions’ which underpin the strategy, and I think that there are many positive aspects (and potential outcomes) from the missions. 

    But….so far, there’s been a notable omission from any of the narrative for me – and that’s any explicit mention of .

    Open source software (yes, and even hardware in some cases), underpins most of the world’s IT infrastructure and systems. It liberates, educates, and is a tool to lower barriers and costs for billions of existing and potential digital users globally.

    In the context of Wales’ Future Generations legislation, it’s a slam-dunk for many of the goals, and more so in many cases than closed-source tools.

    At the outset of a digital strategy development cycle, we have the incredible opportunity to embed a philosophical and practical commitment to using, supporting, developing and championing open source technologies. With the devolution of education, we also have the opportunity of developing this theme through formal education in schools, colleges and universities; and through informal routes such as Code Clubs.

    Iā€™ve previously written about the dangers to democracy from untrammelled use of ā€˜corporate surveillanceā€™ platforms. The other side of that coin is the growth of the open source social media world – the ā€˜Fediverseā€™ – which points to a more responsible, respectful and kinder online world.

    Itā€™s not beyond imagination that Wales becomes a standard-bearer for open source solutions, playing a significant role in global contributions to software and hardware. The outcomes for us – and for the world – could be huge. Look what happened when Estonia developed a strong Governmental interest in digital and cybersecurity!

    I look forward to seeing future blog posts from Welsh Government, and I hope that open source starts becoming a more visible component of future updates!

  • Open source social media will save our democracy

    Open source social media will save our democracy

    Join Mastodon homepage

    Open source social media will save our democracy

    In an opinion piece in yesterdayā€™s Guardian newspaper, Carole Cadwalladr describes how Facebook is the virus that has enabled the catastrophes of both Brexit, and the ascension of Mr. Trump to the White House.

    Facebook allows lies to spread virtually unchecked. It permits those people with the most money and least scruples to disseminate falsehoods to those most susceptible. And it allows this with no prospect of holding individuals or organisations to account.

    Whilst Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms have enabled a blossoming of connection, conversation and shared ideas; they have also created a bitter, divisive, polarised digital world where shareholder value is enhanced most by highlighting division and minimising harmony. Quiet, reasoned thoughts are filtered out by algorithms designed to maximise clicks, retweets and likes. Volume is king.

    Many people want to make a difference but they donā€™t know how. But there is an antidote to the virus of misinformation and hatred. That antidote is open source social media, and itā€™s already spreading at the fringes of the online universe.

    Open source social media

    Open source social media doesnā€™t permit advertising. It doesnā€™t sell data. It prohibits hate speech and intolerance*. And itā€™s moderated by users, not resourced at the behest of global tech giants. 

    More worryingly for the incumbents, the hotbeds of innovation are no longer in the mega-corporations with their teams of thousands in the offices and boardrooms of (mostly) America. They are in the open source equivalents, with code freely available for thousands of supporters and volunteers across the globe to build and improve. 

    From the perspective of Walesā€™ Future Generations Act, anybody using, promoting or supporting these open source platforms is supporting the goal of a Globally Responsible Wales. From a worldwide perspective, that same user or supporter is increasing the freely-accessible sum of human knowledge. 

    One clear example of this innovation is the federation between open source platforms (also known as the Fediverse). Federation is the ability to connect different social media platforms, so that posts and updates become mutually visible.

    This means that if you post a photo on Pixelfed (ethical version of Instagram), it pops up in your feed on Mastodon (ethical version of Twitter). Likewise websites, blogs and updates on the ethical equivalent of pretty much every ā€˜surveillance capitalismā€™ platform you can think of can cross-post to each other, enabling much more streamlined conversations and updates.

    What are the downsides (and upsides)?

    Letā€™s deal with the elephant in the room; the big downside of the new open source Fediverse is that user numbers are far, far lower than for the established platforms.

    This is hardly surprising; thereā€™s a headstart of fifteen years or so for many of the tech giants. And the science behind social media means that thereā€™s an agglomeration effect; once most of your friends are engaged on a platform, it takes a significant effort to leave them behind and start something new.

    For me personally it meant (mostly) leaving my Twitter account of several thousand followers, and starting a fresh new Mastodon account on toot.wales, one of many ā€˜localityā€™ type instances across the world. 

    I instantly ā€˜lost outā€™ on the instantaneous stream of updates from my many friends and colleagues, and on the rough-and-tumble of (what passes for) debate there. Thereā€™s likely an impact on my ability to promote my new business, Afallen, through that network, too. 

    However, what I have found is a new community of online friends and collaborators. Iā€™ve witnessed almost zero hatred or bullying. And Iā€™ve relished using platforms which donā€™t harvest my personal data in order to sell them to companies who may – in many cases – place profit above the public good.

    The truth is that the community of users in Mastodon (and the other platforms) is growing steadily – see the example below for activity on toot.wales. At some tipping point – Iā€™m convinced – the growth will start to become exponential, and then the users who became active first will see the biggest benefits.

    Weekly interactions on the toot.wales platform

    But the biggest benefit of all will come when people start to leave the platforms of the tech giants en masse, lessening their influence as the custodians of online debate and information-sharing, and contributing to a kinder, gentler and more thoughtful world of public discourse.

    Further information

    If youā€™re interested in finding out more about the ethical, privacy-conscious alternatives to the mainstream social media platforms, head to switching.software.

    *Almost all ā€˜instancesā€™ of open source social media ban hate and intolerance. Those that donā€™t are generally blocked, so the hatred is restricted to a small portion of the Fediverse

    One response to “Open source social media will save our democracy”

    1. Linux mobile; safer phones for children? – David Clubb

      […] Open source social media will save our democracy […]